A PIL has been filed in the supreme court seeking an inquiry into the killings of Atique and Ashraf Ahmed and other encounters that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.
The PIL has been filed in the supreme court seeking to constitute an independent committee under the leadership of retired supreme court judge to probe into such killings.
Recently the two accused Atique and Ashraf Ahmed had been killed when they were taken for medical by the police.
It is alleged that the assailants disguised as journalists shot the two.
The assailants were arrested by the police thereafter.
However the PIL alleges that the killing was a pre-planned attack as there was no protection and retaliation from police which raises a question on the transparency on the functioning of the police.
The PIL stated that such killings possess a major threat to democracy and rule of law.
It stated that in a democratic society the police cannot deliver justice by punishing the accused or the criminals and the power to punish is only with the judiciary.
The PIL also questioned the encounter killing of Vikas Dubey, a notorious criminal, -turned-politician from UP who was also killed by UP Police in July 2020 in an encounter and also questioned the report and findings of the commission of the supreme court which was headed by retired Justice B S Chauhan that found no evidence against the police.
The PIL Questioned the efficiency of the police in handling the accused in their custody and stated that either the killings were a crime committed by some other gangsters or it was a conspiracy involving the system in respect of the killings of the accused brothers.
It was contended that the police job is to investigate and detect the crime and bring the suspects to the court and the rest is for the court to decide.
Thus in light of the above contentions, the PIL seeked to-
Issue writ of mandamus in the interest of justice and to investigate the fake encounters by CBI and collect and record the evidence in Kanpur Bikru Encounter case 2020.
The issue of directions to safeguard the Rule of law is constituting an Independent Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court Judge to probe into the killings of Atique and Ashraf Ahmed and others encounters in UP since 2017.